It was the morning of the first day of the festival of Hecate and classes let out early to celebrate the holiday. As all the other cadets rushed to the dorms to plan for the party that was to be held that night, three of their number walked slowly with their heads together, planning.
"No, no. We did that last year, Jason! Can't you be more creative than that?" said the shortest of the three, shaking his head of golden curls. "We need something they won't be expecting, something new."
"All right, how about we set it so that when they walk through the door, a skull with glowing eyes turns to look at them?" asked Jason, Crown Prince of Corinth.
"Well, if we can ever get it to work…at least it's better than cold water pouring over them when they walk in. They've learned to expect that and now they open all the doors with long sticks so they don't even get wet. Takes all the fun out of it." Iolaus said, his blue eyes glowing with excitement.
"We'll need to have a candle inside the skull, but positioned so they won't see it until it's right beside them. Then we can turn it and one of us can laugh, you know, an evil laugh, or rattle some chains or something," said the Prince.
As Iolaus and Jason worked out a plan to scare the cadets this year, Hercules, the tall son of Zeus, listened to it all and sighed. He didn't understand why someone would find pleasure in scaring other people. But his friends had asked him for his help, so he agreed, again.
"…and we'll have to give them something so they'll keep their mouths shut." Jason was saying
"But we'll have to give them all something. What will we have left?" Iolaus asked, with concern in his voice.
"It's either trick or treat Iolaus. One of them has to be sacrificed." Jason said in a tone that settled the matter.
Even though he didn't want to be a part of the trick, Hercules had noticed a flaw in their plan and had to point it out, "Where are you guys going to get a skull? I mean, it's a great plan, but you need a skull and I don't think that Chiron just keeps them lying around. And won't Fiducious disapprove of your plans?"
"Didn't you hear? Fiducious took this opportunity to go on vacation. But you're right about the skulls," Iolaus responded.
By this time they were all seated on a bench. They took a moment to think about their new dilemma. After about three minutes of heavy thinking, Iolaus was bored, so instead of thinking, he let his mind wander and his eyes drift. He stopped at the pumpkin patch.
"Guys, guys! I have a great idea for the skull!" said the hunter excitedly, "We can use pumpkins!"
When his companions looked at him, lack of understanding written clearly on their faces, he sighed, exasperated, and said slowly, "We can carve them to look like faces and skulls and put a candle in them. The other cadets won't see the pumpkin, all they'll see is the glowing face."
Hercules and Jason looked at each other with dawning realization. "It just might work!" they cried at the same time.
"Hercules, you're good at drawing aren't you?" Jason asked. At his nod he said, "Good. You are in charge of drawing the faces on the pumpkins. I'll go get some candles and Iolaus, you go get some pumpkins and a knife. This will be the best scare we've pulled off yet!"
It turned out to be harder than they expected.
Winter was fast approaching and there had been a heavy frost the night before, which made the pumpkins' insides so cold they froze their hands cleaning them out. On top of that, most of them had been turned to mush by the frost, so they were useless.
"This will never work," Iolaus muttered, sitting on the cold ground, shoulders slumped, a look of defeat on his face. "My fingers hurt, and that pumpkin," he added, pointing at the pile of mush that had once been a pumpkin, scowling, "that pumpkin exploded on me and I'm all sticky, wet and cold!"
"Point being…?" Jason asked. "I mean, look at me. My fingers hurt too, and this sheet isn't doing a thing for me. Actually, I think I'm better off without it. I'd take it off too but it's frozen to my fingers!" He finished, shaking his hands in Iolaus's face, a piece of an old sheet wrapped around them to keep out the cold.
"Guys. This was all your idea. If you don't like it, just give up already." Hercules had been standing a few feet away, listening to the whole exchange. He still thought it was a bad idea and figured this was his chance to talk his friends out of their pranks and just enjoy the day.
Hercules had sorely underestimated his friends' love of pranks.
He watched as Iolaus and Jason came out of their 'oh, pity me' routine and look at Hercules like he had just grown another head.
"Just give up? Is that what you're saying Herc? Just give up because we are sore and tired and this is hopeless? I don't think so. If you don't want to help, fine, but I will not give up!" Iolaus said, a new light of determination about him.
"Like Iolaus said, we won't give up that easily. We've come up with a good prank and we'll make it work," added an equally determined Jason.
'That was odd,' thought Hercules, but said instead, "Sure I'd like to go inside, in the warm inside, but that doesn't matter. You've got a prank. We have to carry this out to the end."
"The end of my fingers," he added under his breath.
"Great, you're still with us. Now let's get making some skulls!" cried Iolaus rubbing his hands together in anticipation, not taking the hint.
'Oh boy. Here we go again,' thought Hercules in exasperation, sitting down to carve yet another pumpkin.
By the time they finished carving, they had about ten good pumpkins. They went around and put them in the places you would least expect to find a pumpkin. Some of them even went into the outhouse.
Someone was in for an unpleasant surprise.
When they were almost all set up, they only had about five minutes to go until the party. They grabbed the sweets that they planned on giving the cadets to keep their mouths shut, and went to put the finishing touches on the doors to the barn, where the party would be held.
"There, all set," whispered Iolaus. Hercules looked up at his friend, who was perched on his shoulders, setting up the last pumpkin. As he helped him down, Herc wondered how on earth they had done it.
Now all they had to do was wait, Hercules and Jason by the wall ready to scare the others and Iolaus next to the doors, out of sight, on candy duty.
The few minutes until the party seemed like hours, but at last the doors opened. Five pumpkins that looked like skulls swung down to great the first arrivals. Hercules and Jason made spooky noises and the unsuspecting cadets just about fell over with surprise while Hercules, Iolaus, and Jason fell over with laughter.
When the cadets recovered from their fright enough to comprehend words, Iolaus came out and offered them one of the treats saying that they could have it if they kept their mouths shut. Then they reset the whole thing and wait more cadets to arrive.
Hercules had to admit, this was fun...until Chiron walked through the door to supervise the party.
Nobody dared laugh at that, and they thought they were finished.
"We are so dead. We are so dead," Jason whispered over and over again. None of them dared to move or even breath as Chiron fixed them all with an icy stare.
Then Chiron did the unexpected. He laughed out loud at the prank. He even commended them on there creativity.
"I thought we were done for. Finished. What a relief," whimpered Iolaus as Chiron walked away.
"Mmph," was the only sound Jason and Hercules could make.
Even so, Herc could see why his friends liked this so much. After everyone had arrived, they went in to enjoy the party. They put the pumpkins up as decorations and every now and then a yell could be heard from the outhouse. It seemed almost too perfect to be true.
He was right.
A flash of light announced the arrival of, "Ares," Herc, Iolaus, and Jason groaned as one.
"The one and only. I just stopped by to see if I could do a little damage, wreak a little havoc. You know." As he said all this, Ares spotted the pumpkins and he said, "Hey, those are pretty neat. Almost life like. We can fix that."
With a snap of his fingers, bodies started to appear out of thin air. Headless, dead, bodies. With swords and daggers in their hands. They stood up and felt for their heads and found nothing. Then, they all reached for a pumpkin, and put them on their heads.
More and more bodies appeared. Most didn't have a pumpkin. This wasn't a problem as Ares just 'poofed' more into existence.
Iolaus looked at Ares's jack-o-lanterns and asked Jason, "Why is it that Ares can just think it and he will have countless, lit, jack-o-lanterns? We spent all that time on ours and he comes and makes better ones in seconds. How unfair is that?" Jason just shrugged and glared at Ares.
All at once the pumpkin people stood up and faced all the cadets. Most of the cadets didn't have weapons.
This was a party right?
As one, the Pumpkin People attacked. They were easy to kill, as they were already dead, but their sheer numbers had the cadets fighting for their lives. Hercules, Iolaus, and Jason were taking Pumpkin People left and right, but they kept coming. Iolaus had to duck as two of the Pumpkin People slashed at his head then jumped out of the way as they took a swing at his feet. He didn't have a weapon so he started looking around for something to use, spying the food on the long tables set up against the wall. He ran over and grabbed food to throw at his attackers. He paused as he reached the green, wriggley food to sample a piece.
"What do they call this stuff?" he asked Jason as the prince ducked a sword and quickly dispatched his opponent.
"I heard someone call it Jell-O. Is it good?" he replied as he fought off another opponent, this time to be aided by Iolaus.
"It's…different," Iolaus said with a shrug of his shoulders, "Let's go find Herc."
They found Hercules battling his way through the Pumpkin People. As Iolaus and Jason drew nearer, Iolaus saw one of the Pumpkin People come up behind the demigod. Without a thought, Iolaus rushed in to help his friend. Hercules looked back to see if Iolaus was OK. Seeing he was fine, with Jason a few feet away, he went back to the Pumpkin People that were rushing at him, waving their swords wildly. He took care of them with ease.
Hercules took on four of the Pumpkin People, Iolaus at his back with four more. One of the Pumpkin People slashed at Iolaus's arm as another thrust its dagger at him. He cried out in pain as, when he blocked the dagger, the sword slashed across his arm, cutting through to the bone, breaking his arm. He fell, the Pumpkin People on top of him, just as the other cadets were overwhelmed. He was thinking that they were all going to die. He tried to reach Hercules who he had seen go down only moments before.
And then, the fighting stopped.
They looked up to see Ares laughing. He looked at Hercules and saying, "I didn't want to kill you just yet. That was fun, but I've got something better for you. Mom gave me an early Solstice present. Oh, and I'd help your little friend. He doesn't look so good." And with one last evil laugh, Ares was gone. The evil Pumpkin People with him. All that was left were ten smashed pumpkins on the floor.
All the cadets were slowly regaining their feet. Hercules looked to where Jason was already helping Iolaus.
"Iolaus? Are you OK? What happened?" Hercules asked, as he knelt beside Iolaus.
"He arm was cut by one of those…those things." Jason replied, lifting the broken limb to inspect it. When they saw the extent of the damage done to the small hunter's arm, they called for Chiron. The wounded cadets outnumbered the unwounded three to one, far too many to take to the infirmary, so the wounded were being treated in the barn.
Chiron came and looked Iolaus over. When he saw how severe the wound was, he called for someone to bring some thread and a needle. He set the arm and told Hercules to hold Iolaus still while he closed the wound.
Iolaus had to bite his lip to keep from screaming when the bone was moved, but he couldn't keep back the low moan of pain as the tall centaur worked on his arm. All this time, Hercules held his friend's arm dutifully, and Jason watched silently. When Chiron was finished, he told Hercules to splint and wrap the arm to prevent further damage. Then he went to tend the other's wounds.
Hercules and Jason helped Iolaus to sit up. His face was white from the pain and he was a little shaky.
"How do you feel?" Jason asked.
"I'll be fine. Hey, Herc, did Ares say something about a Solstice gift from Hera?"
"Yeah he did. I don't know what he meant, but I'm willing to bet we find out soon," Hercules replied looking at Iolaus with concern, "Iolaus, are you sure you're all right? You don't look very good."
"Yeah, I'm fine. Really. Did either of you get hurt?" he asked looking his friends over.
"I'm fine. What about you, Jason?" Hercules replied, helping Iolaus to his feet.
"I've got a few bumps and bruises, but nothing serious," Jason said, standing as well.
Just then there was a loud roaring outside the barn.
They ran to the door to find Ares standing beside a giant hydra, its seven heads poised to strike.
"Hey Herc, remember that time we went trick or treating as a hydra?" Iolaus asked.
"Yeah, what about it?" Hercules replied, eyeing the hydra warily.
"Nothing. I was just thinking that we hardly did it justice," Iolaus said, shrugging his shoulders, wincing with pain when he moved his injured arm.
By this time most of the uninjured cadets and Chiron were at the door. Ares laughed at their frightened faces and disappeared to watch the show from a safe distance. The full moon made the hydra seem larger than life.
As it drew closer, Chiron decided on a course of action. "Alright. We are going to need three of you to act as bait, a distraction, while the rest of us try to secure its heads with ropes," he told the assembled cadets "Any volunteers?"
Hercules, Iolaus, and Jason raised their hands.
"Iolaus, you are injured. You shouldn't go. I'm sure someone else would volunteer," Chiron said taking in his pale complexion.
"I'd really like to help, sir," Iolaus replied, his blue eyes pleading with the centaur.
"All right. But if anything goes wrong, anything, I want all of you to get back to safety. All right? Then go ahead, carefully," Chiron directed them solemnly.
They crept out, staying in the shadows, getting closer and closer to the hydra. When they looked back, they saw that the others were in position. They saw Chiron signal to them and they jumped into the full light of the moon. The hydra who, up until that point had been focusing on the barn and the wounded cadets within, turned all its heads to look at them. They ran around it, insulting it, confusing it, drawing it ever closer to Chiron and the waiting cadets.
Just a little closer and they would have it!
"Now!" shouted Chiron. The cadets threw their ropes at the hydra, lassoing its heads, pulling them to the ground. They tightened the ropes, cutting off its air so it would suffocate. It seemed to be working. Then, with one last burst of energy, the hydra broke free.
The cadets scrambled to get out of the way as the roared in anger.
Hercules, Iolaus, and Jason were still too close to the hydra. It caught sight of them and flung itself at them, intent upon crushing them all. They ran even though they knew it was useless. Iolaus stumbled and Hercules and Jason stopped to help him. Hercules looked up and saw the shape of the hydra above him. He ducked down, bending over his friends, covering his head with his arms and waited for the crushing weight of the hydra to come down on them.
It never came. They looked, and saw that the hydra had disappeared into thin air.
"Where did it go?" Iolaus asked. Jason, completely bewildered, just shrugged.
"Look! Over there!" Hercules shouted, pointing to something moving in the shadows. As they looked, out came a black cat. It paced toward them and when it had almost reached them, it sat down. They gasped in surprise as it turned into a woman. She stood up and walked over to Hercules.
"I am Hecate," the woman said, "Ares was way out of line when he ruined my favorite festival. He's always doing that." Then, she turned to Iolaus and said, "Show me your arm." Iolaus turned so the goddess could see his arm. When she touched it, the arm was healed.
"I will heal the others now," she said as she walked toward the barn.
When she came out with all the other cadets, completely healed, in tow, Hercules said, "We really appreciate the help Hecate, but why are you doing this?"
" Like I said, Ares is out of line. I'm going to tell dad and he won't be happy about this. Ares! Show yourself!" she commanded.
There was the flash of light that usually accompanies the comings and goings of the gods, and Ares stood before Hecate, fuming.
"You always have to mess things up, don't you? Why can't I have a little fun?" Ares whined at his older sister.
"If you continue to mess up festivals with your wars and 'fun', I'm going to Zeus."
"You never let me do anything. I was just having a little fun. Come on, Hecate, be nice," Ares said, looking for all the world like a child working himself into a tantrum. Hercules, Iolaus, and Jason looked at each other, trying not to laugh and settled back to watch the show.
Then, without warning, Hera and Zeus appeared.
"Welcome to my nightmare," Ares moaned.
"Ares!" Zeus said sternly, "Have you been disrupting Hecate's festival?"
"Well…I," Ares stammered, and glared at Hecate when she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Ares, you know you're not supposed to do that," Hera said, "That's the fourth festival this year. And I'm not even going to go into the temples you have desecrated. You will have to be punished."
"Oh, come on, mom! Be fair!" Ares pleaded.
Iolaus couldn't take it any longer. He burst out laughing. Unable to help themselves, all the other cadets did as well. Ares glared at them all, but said nothing.
"Ares," Zeus said, after things had settled down a bit, "your mother and I have been getting complaints about your poor conduct. We have decided to ground you from warring privileges for three months," Zeus had rendered his judgment in a voice that settled the matter.
"This is SO unfair!" Ares complained, but a look from the other gods silenced him. Three of the four gods disappeared with a flash of light. The cadets wouldn't hear anything else from Ares for three months, but for the small voice that could be heard asking in the night, "Just one little skirmish?"
Hecate stood there, looking at the sky chanting and laughing, "Ares is in trouble, Ares is in trouble. Ha Ha!
Everyone, including Chiron, burst out laughing.
Hecate helped to set up the barn with decorations and food. Then she left, saying she had work to do in the underworld.
The party lasted for two days, non-stop. It was, by far, the best party that was ever held in Greece. A day after the party ended, classes resumed.
Life went back to normal, until the next time the gods would decide to have a little 'fun'.
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